Frequently Asked Questions

Every question about triathlon you’ve ever been too scared to ask is listed here.

Off Season

    Coach Lance athletes don’t have an off season. We have race season and non-race season. I equate off season to 25 lbs of weight gain, a loss of fitness, and ultimately having to play catch up in February of March in the following year. Furthermore having an “off season” as typically defined, is wasted opportunity to build fitness that is not easily focused on during peak race season.

Billing

    We are in the business of keeping athletes on task and in the game. I honestly believe that the athlete who has an “off season” in the fall and winter, is putting a knife in their foot as far as competition. What we want our athletes to do is train during the non-race months in a way that will allow them to take their fitness to the next level in the next year’s race season. Simply put, there IS NO off season.
    Kris Boehme – my trusty book keeper.
    We will charge your credit card automatically at the first of the month.
  • Month to month athletes must give a minimum of 2 weeks notice prior to the next month end or, they will be charged automatically for the following month.
  • All other athletes are on 12 month agreements and we will contact you well before your initial agreement ends to discuss going forward for the next year.
    If your doctor provides us a written notice at any point that says you cannot exercise for more than 6 weeks, we will let you out of your agreement with no penalty.
    If you just want to cancel your contract for whatever reason you can, we will bill you your regularly monthly fee, plus one more month after to help offset our initial costs and then you may be released with no further penalty.

Nutrition

    Short answer: no, lose weight during non-peak race season. You will more likely dull your edge than sharpen it.
  • You don’t want to cut calories in a significant phase of your training. The time to lose weight is when you are not in full competition phase or building. You will deplete you glycogen stores and unlikely to be able to recover from one workout to the next which will offset the gain you think you are going to achieve by dropping a few pounds.
  • You should not be trying to lose weight while you are logging serious hours and time leading up to key race events.
  • Short answer: Not unless you’ve been on the atkins diet or on a 2 week fast.
  • Longer answer: In my opinion, endurance athletes should be eating 60% of their total calories from carbo rich, nutrient dense carbohydrates. So in essence, on a daily basis you should be replenishing your precious glycogen stores. Classic carb loading models promoted a depletion of glycogen stores. I don’t believe that fits in with what we know about nutrition to day. I do not think it a logical/reproducible approach to maximize performance.
  • Long answer: everyone’s stomach is different. Here’s what I do. No idea if this will work for you or not. For most events I put one packet of Hammer Nutrition Sustained Energy blended into 16-20oz of soy milk (for full Ironman I do two servings of Sustained Energy). I then take one Hammer Gel (for flavor) 15 minutes prior to race with 4-6oz of water.
  • Again, everyone’s stomach is different, but here’s what I do:
  • Protein rich pasta Marinara sauce 4-6 tempeh (soy substitute) meatballs
    There is no way to answer this in way that is meaningful because it can be different for each distance, for each athlete, time of the year, what part of the country you are in, or even what part of the world you are in. We could write an entire book (and might some day) just about this topic alone. You’ll need one on one coaching to answer this for you.
    Again, no legit way to answer this question because of all the variables. We develop race nutrition plans for our athletes based on many variables. Contact us for your own individual plans.

Cycling

  • Short answer: Well, if your aero position is so steep that you are uncomfortable, you won’t be able to stay aero anyway and if you do, it will compromise your run. So there is a balance there.
  • Long Answer: There is a balance between your aero dynamic positioning and comfort and output. If you strive for the most aero position you can achieve without considering comfort and maximal output you compromise you OVERALL capability. A good bike fit takes into consideration:
  •   Flexibility of the athlete
  •   Core strength
  •   Past injuries
  • Your race goals – Hey lets face it, there is a difference between just wanting to finish a race and wanting to win. But either way, you need a good bike fit.
  • Short answer: 85-95 rotations per minute.
  • Long answer: Actually this turns into another question. Where are your weak links? Do you have a strength weakness or a cardio weakness? If you are trying to increase your cardio endurance I’d trend more toward 95 rpm. If you want to increase your strength, I would trend more toward an 85 rpm. By staying in this range, you are less likely to be bouncing around on the saddle, less likely to have side to side motion, and less likely to be mashing your pedals and hurting you knees. Every athlete is different, but 85-95 rpm’s is a good general guideline.
  • Short answer: Yes. Absolutely.
  • Long answer: There are no stop lights, no dogs, no insane motorists, weather is not an excuse, flat tires are not an issue. It allows you to start your workout at any time during the day or night. You can push yourself to limits on the trainer that are much harder to replicate outdoors. You can create a VERY high quality workout that is not easy to do outdoors. Just the amount of coasting, resting at stoplights, slowdowns because of traffic, all of these reduce work on the bike. When you are on the trainer, there is NO BREAK. You are always engaging pedals, 100% of the time. And because of all of this Coach Lance does a full 90% of his riding indoors on the trainer as do many pros.
  • I personally favor the computrainer. For the money, the computrainer has no rival. It has extreme functionality that cannot be gained on a static trainer. I’m not a sponsor for Computrainer, but I recommend it and no other.

Swimming

  • Link to video coming soon.
  • Short answer: depends on the athlete.
  • Long answer: depends on the athlete. If you were Michael Phelps you could get a lot of benefit by swimming a 10,000 time trial. But for most of us, doing short interval sets will promote the sensation of speed in the water and be better for them overall. I have personally have found when doing 4,000 plus continuous swims, it creates boredom, non-optimal mechanics, and has you practicing swimming at a speed below your potential. That is to say, if you practice continuously swimming slow, chances are, you’ll swim slow. Plain and simple.
  • First, check our video link to how to perform exercises in hotel rooms. All you’ll need are some inexpensive, light weight, easy to pack resistance tubes.
  • Second is tethered swimming. You can do this in a pool that is small as 10x10. Most hotel pools will be much longer than this. Basically you are going to tie yourself off using this device (ordering information below) or any other that works for you. It will allow you to swim against the tether and keep up your swim fitness on the road where lap swimming isn’t possible.
  • http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/1227.htm This product costs $60.00 and there are others. But this is as good as any other and it has a 20ft surgical tube cord which will give you maximum flexibility for any pool.

Running

  • don’t think it is essential. Simply because of the tax on your body. If you think about it, it will take two weeks to recover. The chances for injury is higher. And during your Ironman training you will be prepping for the marathon portion anyway. Basically, the tax on your body, the reduced training needed for proper recovery, and the chances for injury being so high, it just doesn’t make much sense to do it. I would rather my athletes do three half marathons than one open marathon. The bottom line is that we want to get faster. Marathons won’t make you as fast as racing and prepping for half marathons.
  • I feel that it comes down to stride rate. If I see someone running with a stride rate of 85 strides per minute versus an athlete with a 95 stride per minute rate, I know I’m looking at two very different athletes. Increase you stride rate and you will increase your speed. And not only will you get faster, you will do it with less energy and with a lower chance for injury. You can measure your stride rate using a Garmin Food Pod or other similar device.
  • I appreciate the logic behind barefoot running. I am aware, however, that many athletes can push themselves too far and too fast in their initial attempts at either barefoot or minimalist running (like the Nike Free or Virbram 5 fingers) so I qualify the follow statement with this: If you go too far, too fast with any of these you are VERY LIKELY to get injured. The question then becomes, how far is too far. I can’t begin to answer that for YOU as an individual. That being said, here is my own personal experience:
  • Virbram 5 fingers from Lance’s own experience I’ve had them for over a year and have yet to run over 2 miles in them. If you don’t want to spend $95, you might go one of two routes Barefoot for 100ft to 100 yards Wear wool socks for 100ft to 100 yards The main point being, to experience the difference.
  • One benefit I’ve found with barefoot running is that it automatically increases stride rate. Which I believe, and wrote about in another part of FAQ, is what makes an athlete faster. So I like it from that standpoint.
  • It will strengthen your feet.
  • It makes you more “aware” of the ground. Next time you go run in your stability trainers, listen to your feet slapping the ground. I want my athletes to hardly make a sound when they are running. To do that, you have to be aware of the ground. Barefoot or minimalist running will help with that.
  • Short answer: I’m against it.
  • Long answer: You need to be in tune to your body. You need to literally hear your heart rate. You need to hear your breathing. You need to be able to hear whether your feet are landing softly on the ground or not. And functionally, you CAN’T race with it anyway. Music provides a wonderful external distractor. One you are not allowed to use when it counts most, so why train with it? Some people tell me it helps me push…and that is the problem. YOU need to be able to push YOU.
  • When you are training you have to be able to be your own cheerleader. When you are out there in a race, you won’t hear the music. All you will hear is you so you need to practice positive mental talk. And, beyond all that, I’m the coach and Coach wants you to deal with it.

Strength Training

  • Short answer: Absolutely. No brainer.
  • Long answer: A high percentage of triathletes would prefer to do 30 more minutes of cardio rather than doing strength training. Unfortunately that will not make you stronger or less injury prone long term. The best triathletes in the world are the strongest. And I don’t mean bench pressing 400 lbs. If you want to test your strength, go out and try 30 walking lunges with 25lb dumbbells in each hand. Or get into a plank and stay there without dropping your hips for 90 seconds. When I say strength I mean being able to maintain form in each event even when fatigued. That doesn’t happen through doing a whole bunch of extra cardio or aerobic training (although we do develop some resistance to fatigue through that type of training). To truly maximize your potential you have to have the stresses from both strength training and aerobic workouts.
  • Short answer: Nonsense.
  • Long answer: I think one of the main challenges with strength training is that athletes feel they don’t have time to fit it in. You should be able to do most of this it at home. I feel that you should start out doing body weight exercises anyway. Everything you need to develop the type of strength that will help you be a better endurance athlete can be bought inexpensively, kept at home, and most of it will travel well in a suitcase.

Transitions

  • Short answer: Not unless you are going to paint the transition racks.
  • Long answer: You should not be sitting down at all, so there is no reason to be sitting on a bucket. Keep your head above your heart, get your shoes on and go. You don’t want to create any kind of unnecessary cooling in your legs. Your transition area should be fast from one sport to the next.
  • Short answer: less is better.
  • Long Answer: All you really need is your swim goggles, wetsuit, bike shoes, running shoes, helmet, socks, and possibly glasses. Pump your tires before you leave home. Don’t do what I’ve done and bring an entire duffel bag to transition that was big enough for a week long trip.
  • Short Answer: Practice. Just like everything else.
  • Long answer: Create a T2 in your garage. Put your bike on the trainer. Ride for 10-15 minutes at race intensity, jump off the bike, and change for the run and go. I do this 2-3 times and sometimes up to four times. If you want you can do it at a track after doing 400-800 meter repeats.